Bringing airsofters together is any way or form will always be a passion of mine. With Papa Company I take that extra step to create a unit with like-minded people to play with each other on the same energy level and values. This all to create the best airsoft experience possible for all people in and around Papa Company.
Papa Company was born in 2023, with me as Company Commander. In the previous years Papa Company has gone through some transformation to the current state we are today.
Let’s start with the beginning.
Berget 19 – Repa Forces
Size: +-100 infantry, 3 vehicles, 2 tanks
The First time
The first time the unit becomes a close group, with not only infantry from one team but with a collection of many different nationalities and identities. The introduction of the Mechanized patch created the foundation of the connection between infantry and mechanized. During Berget 19, the patch was mandatory to join Papa Company. The money collected was then divided over the vehicles owners, in the company, to cover their expenses.
All Papa Company people were also given rides by the vehicles until all players were on location, without risking our vehicles to be destroyed in-game. A balance that always created friction between Infantry and Mechanized in the past.
Besides the vehicles, the Company could count on input from people taking up important tasks, such as creating the tent overview, RTO tasks, doing security tasks, … . We can’t forget that every person in the company was helping with building duties before, during and after the game.
We started off with 3 vehicles and as you can see in the roster, there was a dedicated vehicle platoon. There was also an armor platoon but that was not included in the Mechanized infantry system.
While Berget 19 was a very good start of Papa Company, a lot of things needed improvement. We had about 100 people in the company and some people needed more attention then others. While I was mostly focusing on the people that needed my help, the units that were doing well got less communication.
Finding good leading people and adjusting the amount of pre-game meetings was a high priority for the upcoming year.
While Berget 19 does not has a POV video, there is an important video that give a glimpse behind Papa Company and me as the Company Commander.
Berget 20 – Repa Forces
Size: +-175 infantry, 7 vehicles
We’re back and we’re bigger, but that doesn’t mean that things will go smoother. This will be a very difficult year and a lot of lessons were taken from this year to improve for the future.
The company command group tried it’s best to keep the Company rolling but everything seemed to work against us. Getting people out in the field and keeping the morale up in a very hot game with a difficult map to play on, was a big challenge. This combination of factors made me rethink the whole Company structure from the ground up.
Leading people
Finding good people to lead the units proved to be a challenge. Not only the leading quality was an issue but also keeping the command up during the whole game was an issue. An important decision will flow out of this for Berget 21.
Energy Level
Energy level seemed to be one of the biggest struggles to have people out and fight with a full Company or Platoon. Also here we will take a drastic decision for the next event.
Berget 20 showed to be a good year to fail and find the right people to move forward with. It was a tough but needed year to grow Papa Company into the right direction.
The Patch
Berget 20 is the first Berget where the diamond shape patch comes in play and is liked by all and it has been a symbol of Papa Company since then. Each patch has a story and here we choose to go with a infantry/mechanized reference to show that we’re more than just infantry.
The shape came from the vehicle top markers, used to identify vehicles for friendly drones.
We also made the patch optional to join Papa Company. People still got the rides when they were available. This showed an interesting decision as 90% of the unit bought the Papa patch to support the vehicles. Showing us that this system works and we’re on the right path.
Berget 21 – Repa Forces
Size: +-70 infantry, 3 vehicles
Papa Company dropped to about 50% of Berget 20. But that was a good thing. It gave us the time to work out details that bcame the foundation of Papa Company.
Berget 21 brings the biggest changes in Papa Company, bring airsoft into milsim. Before Berget 21, we mostly worked very closely to military strategies and forgot that this is still airsoft and most people lack the experience, endurance and knowledge to lead or follow for a game like Berget. People forget sometimes that this is 66h of pushing your body and mind to the limit.
Leading people & Teams
Leading people are on the same level as any other player on the field, they just have a different task and different responsibilities. This might sound normal but in airsoft there are many people that as soon as they get ‘rank’ they act differently. Suddenly respect to people goes out of the window.
I also noticed that it doesn’t work to have 1 person leading a platoon. You at least need 3 people that can support each other. Also when you take them out of a friend group, during the game they start playing with that friend group instead of leading the platoon. Leaving the rest of the platoon hanging.
On the Saturday, during Berget games, we usually had to do with what was left of the company. The once nicely build platoons and squads were no more. So why did we keep forcing it from the start?
With this knowledge I made the decision to not work with a platoon leader until the opportunity presented itself to work in the ideal situation. Until that time, the first Team of the platoon was ‘in charge’, just a bit more than the other ‘team leaders’. Where decisions were made as a group, with all the Team leaders.
Here we see another change. Papa Company steps away from formed ‘Squads’ and instead we work with the friend groups, no matter the size they are. This meant we could have a team of 3 people and one of 16 people. We perfect the ‘Saturday groups’ instead of forcing them into something that will fall apart anyway.
Team leaders were responsible for their teams, no matter the size. They were responsible to share the needed information and be present on meetings. This responsibility created a sense of connection which resulted in more engaged team leaders.
Platoon A & B
In the past we created mixed units with ‘strong’ and ‘weaker’ people. This with the idea that the stronger people will take the newer people under their wings and bring them to the same level. This didn’t work as the stronger units left the weaker teams behind and went on without them. The weaker units were then playing catch up the whole game, which depleted the morale fast.
Instead of mixing the teams, we decided to create an A and B unit. The setup, tasks, ideas, values, … are all the same. The difference is that the A unit needs to be out at 0830 and comes back at 0230. The B unit can choose to join later and leave the field earlier as they see fit. But when they are out, they are actively joining the missions.
This created an awesome vibe with equal energized units when we were in the field. We always had the A unit and every extra team from the B unit was a good extra force to use during the missions. Having that fixed base, made it more fun for all units to be out.
Problems
This, of course, created problems that needed to be fixed in upcoming events. Still, we’re on the right path when we listen to the feedback from the units joining us.
Communication, as there is not a Platoon leader to share the information, the first team leader was juggling 3 different channels to keep up to date with all the information and sending it to the right people.
Platoon B, because the B unit wasn’t out as much as the A unit, they were not as close connected to what was going on. The freedom that was given was a bit to loose and they even asked for a better structure.
The Patch
The diamond shape patch is back, just the inside has changed to one of the most memorable missions of Berget 20, the attack on the sandpit and planting the flags on the bunkers. A patch designed during one of the pre-game meetings. Creating the patch together is the first task we do together as a unit.
The combination of the Papa Patch and the Repa patch created a nice Red blob on the right arm of all people. This creation is something that Papa people wear the whole year to show that they were part of Papa Company. It becomes clear that Papa Company is starting to become more than ‘just a Company at Berget’.
Saturday Game
The Papa Company vibe became very clear on the Saturday. Usually a day where morale is low and people are going home because of lack of missions but not this year. Papa Company had about 75% of it’s people left to battle till the last minutes of Berget 21. We stick together and go till the end!
Berget 22 – Nordland Defence Group
Size: +-85 infantry, 9 vehicles
A bit change, I switched from the Red side to the Blue side after 9 years playing red on Berget. I didn’t switch alone, the majority of Papa Company joined and this might have created the best bond in Papa Company yet. It doesn’t matter who we play with, as long as we’re together as a unit. This showed that what we’ve been working on the last 3 years is starting to work.
The change of side also meant a change of command that we need to show what we do and how we works. Luckily this was not a problem and the HQ gave us freedom to work as we work best.
Durin the pre-game meetings we started working on the Berget 21 problems and worked out solutions.
Communication
We needed to get rid of the 3 radio channels that the first Team Leader was juggling. Each person was only allowed to have 2 radio channels. We created a solution by adding an extra RTO in our command unit that was connected to the Teamleaders radio channels. Our RTO then stayed close to us for communication. The schedule might seem difficult but it solved the problem in the field and brought the problem up to the command unit to fix.
This worked really well. Although our RTO was quickly used on other channels too and he was using too many channels. All in all this system worked pretty well and the platoons were able to keep the communication flowing.
Platoon B
During Berget 21, the B Platoon wanted a bit more structure. We decided instead of giving them freedom during the whole day to join in the field, we limited the times from 1000 till 2200. The teams were still allowed to join earlier and stay later but they needed to be in the field between those hours.
This system hit the sweet spot of giving the people the needed rest and active moments while keeping the B Platoon together. Everyone took the needed rest and was ready to go out when needed.
Papa Company Agreement
To make things more official and understandable, I created the first Papa Company Agreement. A document that if you join Papa Company, you agree upon. If not, you’re not allowed to join. It also gives me a way to remove people that do not fit Papa Company. We care about simple values to create the best game possible for the people around us. These values form the base of Papa Company.
You can find this agreement here,
Patch
Again we keep the diamond shape. It started to become so recognizable that everyone wants to keep it. Of course the colors are a bit different this year. We played around with blue or black border and this final design was the best fit with the HQ created NDG patch. The right shoulder was again showing both patches on most Papa Company people. This unity creates a strong coherent feeling in the field.
As we started a new Berget storyline and with the change to the blue side, a simple design was chosen that symbolizes a push through the enemy lines.
Where was I
I was a bit less active in the Company because of some personal stuff, but Anton took over the working machine and guided it to where it needed to go. I did miss the leading part and being close to everyone on the field. Instead I filled in in places that needed help. I took some Team leader, Platoon leader, … roles and assisted where needed. This showed that a multipurpose person in the group is always good to have. Without backups, it only works until it’s broken.
The year it worked
There isn’t much I can say, Papa Company worked. People were on the same level. The lower activity during the game made it possible to test out a lot of things on a leading level. It gave people that wanted to try leading, the chance to slowly roll into it.
We had the most vehicles we had ever had with 6 cars, 2 atv’s and 1 truck. This dance of vehicles was coordinated by the first team leaders that slowly but steady were falling into their role of leading the platoon. With might also fix our communication problem with 2 people stepping up for next year to take the position of Platoon leader. This might open up all other problems but we’ll fix that then.
Papa Company – The Future
If we learned one thing in the last 4 years of Papa Company it’s that we can fix it. We can find a way to make it work as long as we keep our values high.
Structure in chaos, our path to success.